


Deep Dark

by belmione



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 22:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18433193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belmione/pseuds/belmione
Summary: “This is the last person she’d want to traverse dark and unknown passages with like this and on the other hand, Glimmer is curious.  She's spent night after night listening to stories about her from Adora. What does Adora see in Catra?  Maybe she can find a little bit of it.”Glimmer and Catra are separated from their respective teams and forced to work together to escape.  Catradora and Glimmadora with microscopic hints of Glitra.





	Deep Dark

Shouts echo inside of a crumbling first one's temple, reverberating in the cavernous underground as a skirmish flares. The place is more like a cave now, a structure that was once grand slowly reclaimed by the earth and rock.

She-Ra’s sword meets Scorpia’s claw with a loud crack and they dig their heels in, bearing down against each other. Entrapta’s tinny voice drifts from earpieces that Scorpia and Catra wear, but Glimmer can't hear the instructions she gives them.  Thankfully, it's relatively clear what they're after. A huge first one's data chip is embedded into the wall behind them, nestled in a once colorfully painted mural that is now worn and washed out.

Scorpia lunges at She-Ra, who stands, defensive, in front of the wall.

“I'll take Catra!” Glimmer shouts, well aware that her teleportation is the only thing half as agile as her.

“You're sure you're not running too low?!” Bow asks.

“Cover me just in case!”

Glimmer appears right in front of Catra and she snarls, trying to dodge her. Glimmer keeps up, though, cutting her off at every turn. It's draining and she’s running out of power, but if they can just keep them away long enough to for Mermista or Perfuma to swipe the tech themselves-

Glimmer hears a deep crack and she and Catra both stop. Scorpia is making jabs at She-Ra with her massive claws. She's mostly hitting the wall, her claws making deep punctures in the stone. A crack starts to spider-web out from one of them.

“Scorpia! Stop, you're going to kill us!” Catra snaps.

At the same time, Adora swings too wide, catching the wall behind her. Glimmer and Catra both stop and rush towards the wall.

“Dammit, Adora!”

“Adora, no!”

Adora whips around, eyes wide.

“Everyone move! This thing is going down!” she bellows, dragging Scorpia away from it and hooking Bow under her arm too as she runs.

Glimmer teleports just as the wall starts to fall, great hunks of rock colliding with one another in an ear-splitting crash.

Once the dust settles, Glimmer looks around. The light at the opening of the place is blocked. It's almost completely dark instead of the dim, filtered light they fought in just moments ago.

Glimmer looks around wildly. She can't see Adora or Bow in the space around her.  The only thing here is a massive pile of rubble that towers above her. The tech is almost certainly destroyed.

“Adora? Bow?” she calls.

She hears their faint voices on the other side answer. She lets out the breath she was holding. They're safe but she can't work out what they're saying.

She thinks she's alone on this side of the rubble until a quick-moving shape catches her eye. Catra leaps down off of a rock she must have been clinging to when the wall collapsed.

A flash of adrenaline hits her. She's stuck on this side with Catra, low power, and no backup.

Glimmer’s first instinct, of course, is to make sure she doesn’t get captured.  No Horde soldier is taking her down that easily.

“Ack! Will you relax?! Stop!” Catra growls as Glimmer flings an attack at her.

“Why, so you can sneak up on me?!”

“We’re stuck underground with only one way out and my light,” she gestures beyond the pile of rubble to where Scorpia and Adora can faintly be heard calling their names, “is on the other side.  I’m not going to last very long if I sneak up on you.”

“Well, I’m not going to help you!” Glimmer extinguishes the gleaming light she’s holding and the space goes completely black.

“Yeah, you know I see better in the dark than you, right? Not well enough to get out of here, but well enough that that doesn’t do you any favors.”

“Ugh, whatever,” Glimmer huffs and brings the light back up.  Catra laughs to herself and Glimmer thinks it’s one of the most grating sounds she’s ever heard.  “So what do we do?”

“Can’t you teleport or whatever?”

“Not with two people when I’m running on empty like this.  If I do that and we land in the wrong spot, we’re stranded with no light. Or we land somewhere unstable and we fall or get crushed, or-”

“Cool, so you’re useless is what you’re saying.”

“I’m not-” Glimmer sputters,  “You’re so annoying!” she stamps her foot. “ I don’t know how Adora ever put up with you!”

Catra laughs again, but her ears go flat in a way that seems troubled.

“I mean, she stopped, didn’t she?”

That halts Glimmer in her tracks.

“I didn’t mean-”

“Yeah you did, don’t try to backpedal now.  What’s true is true. Anyway, we should probably find a way out.”

“Shouldn’t we stick around here, though?”

“Look, I know Adora is all strong now or whatever, but I don’t think even she’s getting that,” she points to the pile of rubble bigger than the palace at Brightmoon, “to budge.  Even if she does, I don’t really like the odds of sticking around somewhere that unstable. So you can stay here all you want, but I’m not sitting here waiting on someone to save me,” she narrows her eyes and turns to walk.  Glimmer follows reluctantly.

“So...you’re Catra,” Glimmer eyes her, sizing her up, trying to get used to the foreign feeling of walking beside her without throwing punches.  

“Yup, that’s me,” Catra answers, bored.

“We’ve just never really talked and I’ve heard a lot about you, so this is weird.  Especially since you’re her ex...” Glimmer trails off, unsure how to finish.

“Ex what?” Catra asks.  She still stares straight ahead as if she’s uninterested, but Glimmer sees a little twitch in her ears.  She wonders what that means.

“Ex everything, I guess.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure Adora has plenty of complaints about me.”

“No, actually.  She speaks highly of you other than the fact that she wishes you’d leave and join us,” she huffs.

“And I bet that drives you crazy,” Catra grins in this self-satisfied way that makes Glimmer so frustrated she could scream.  “And thanks, but that doesn’t sound like that high an opinion of me. She thinks highly of me but disapproves of everything I’m doing with my life.”

“Yeah, she told me about this too.”

“About what?”

“That you’re stubborn.”

“Am I stubborn or am I just not following Adora around doing every little thing she tells me?”

“No, you’re just doing every little thing the Horde tells you.”

“And you’re not doing the same thing?”

“No, actually, I’m a Commander.  I don’t answer to anyone but the queen.”

“So you do whatever your mommy tells you to.  Got it.”

Glimmer growls under her breath and doesn't respond.  They walk together in a silence that feels repellant, the way the poles of magnets grate on one another.  This is the last person she’d want to traverse dark and unknown passages with like this and on the other hand, Glimmer is curious.  She's spent night after night listening to stories about her from Adora. She's never had a conversation with her, never even gotten to walk next to her without fighting, and at the same time she knows her favorite color and the things that make her smile.  She knows the little things she used to do when she was small that Adora loved and can`t forget. She knows the story about the mouse and she knows what used to make her cry in the middle of the night. It makes Glimmer wonder. What does Adora see in Catra? Maybe she can find a little bit of it.

“So what’s so great about the Horde?  Why do you like it so much?” she asks, abandoning nervousness in favor of trying to get a little bit of a feel for her.  

“I don’t like the Horde, the Horde pretty much sucks most of the time.”

“Then why stay?”

“Well the fact that it’s where I live seemed like reason enough,” she quirks an eyebrow and Glimmer is rapidly losing her patience again but she tries valiantly to keep going

“Don’t play dumb with me,” she sighs, a little of her exasperation seeping through.  “I mean why don’t you leave?”

“Leave and go where?”

“The Rebellion, obviously,” Glimmer rolls her eyes, seeing if giving Catra a dose of her own medicine will get her to budge.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Not really,” she sniffs.  “You could join the Rebellion too.  Adora did. Hell, she even invited you to-”

“Yeah, because Adora is delusional.  Always has been.”

“No, she isn’t!  You could join if you wanted to!” Glimmer snaps, defensive at the idea that Adora is delusional.  

“Can I?” she hisses, whirling.  She sneers in a way that seems more bared teeth than anything else, eyes gleaming a little in the dim light in a way that makes Glimmer want to back away.  She doesn’t, though. She stands her ground and they stand nearly nose to nose with each other, both unwilling to budge. So much for a peaceful conversation.

“Yes, you could.  You just won’t.”

“That’s the problem with princesses.  You’re a lot of pretty talk but talk is all it is.  Don’t think I don’t know the way you treat people who don’t look like you think a princess should.”

“What are you talking about?! “

“Scorpia.”

“What about Scorpia? You can’t just throw out accusations.”

“Scorpia,” she draws out her name, enunciating, playing as if she thinks Glimmer is stupid and it takes all of her restraint not to fight her right here. “Is with the Horde because you wouldn’t accept her.  I know what you did to her. I know how low you’ll sink.”

“Scorpia is with the Horde because her family chose to.  They could’ve joined the Rebellion too,” Glimmer explains, grave.  “Instead they just laid down and let the Horde take over. They sold us out.”

“Really? And it’s just coincidence that everyone with these,” she brandishes her claws, “and this,” she yanks her own tail forward in a way that makes Glimmer wince, “and anything like this, or these, or these,” she ruffles her own hair, pulls down the lower lid of her eyes for a moment so the elongated pupils constrict, gnashes her teeth, “seem to belong to the Horde?”

Glimmer stops short.  It’s not that she hasn’t noticed, but she’s never given it more than a passing thought.   Glimmer hasn’t ever told anyone that looked like Scorpia or Catra that they couldn’t join.  But she also hasn’t ever really been in contact with very many people like her. Catra is right in a way that makes her feel like she’s sinking. There isn’t anyone like her in the princess alliance.

“Don’t have anything to say to that, Princess?” She laughs and the way she spits the word princess makes Glimmer feel, for the first time, the smallest hint of shame at the title.  

“We would welcome you if you joined,” Glimmer offers, but the admission feels weak in a way she can’t quite describe.  

“And be the only monster in the bunch? Forgive me for not rushing to join your pretty little princess party.  No thanks.”

“I never said you were a monster!” Glimmer wails.

“Didn’t have to.”

They keep walking in silence.

“Is that what you really think we think about you?” Glimmer whispers after a moment.

“Uh, yeah?  That’s what I said.”

Glimmer isn’t sure at first what to say.  Any denial that the princess alliance does indeed think her monstrous feels flimsy at best.

“We don’t think you’re a monster, not that I’d blame you for not believing me.  But do you really think Adora thinks that about you?”

Catra doesn’t respond for a moment.

“We’re not talking about Adora.”

“Maybe we should.  Because I don’t think you think that Adora thinks you’re a monster.”

“Whatever,” Catra rolls her eyes, but Glimmer can tell she’s hit a nerve in the way her shoulders hunch, in the way she turns her face so Glimmer can’t see her expression.

“You know what I think?”

“No and I don’t really care, but I’m sure you’ll tell me anyway."

“I think you already know Adora doesn’t think that about you.  I think you know she loves you-“

“Yeah, Adora loves me so much she went and ran off with a bunch of people she’d known for a day who know nothing about her.”

“We know Adora.”

“Do you?”

“Yes,” Glimmer answers with a confidence that’s feeling more and more hollow with every moment she continues talking to Catra.  

“Okay, then, tell me what you know about her,” Catra raises an eyebrow, challenging her.

“I know she misses you and loves you and still worries about you every day even though you won’t give her the time of day.  Personally, I think she gives you way more benefit of the doubt than you deserve. I understand feeling out of place in the Rebellion, but I can’t forgive acting on behalf of the Horde for it.  So I don’t really get Adora there.”

Catra snorts, derisive.

“Yeah, you never will.”

“And you will?” Glimmer volleys back.

“Uh, yeah? I was there?” Catra rolls her eyes.

“Just because you grew up with her doesn’t mean you know everything about her.”

“Listen.  Glitter, is it?”

“Glimmer.”

“Sure.  You’ve known what’s-his-face-“

“Bow?” She growls.  “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing that on purpose.

“Oh I count on you knowing it.  You’ve known Bow most of your life, right?”

“Yeah,” Glimmer answers.   She isn’t sure she should entertain this conversation, but she’s also curious to see where it goes.  She wants so badly to know what’s behind Adora’s knitted brows and tears as she watches her across the length of a battlefield.  She wants to know what makes Adora take blows from her, ragged red gashes across her cheeks and back, and refuse to hit her back.  She wants to know what puts the smile in her voice when she tells stories about her and the ache in her throat she can’t swallow in time when she finishes to a room that Catra isn’t in.

“Cool.  And you don’t really have any other friends.”

“How did you-“

“We’re really not that different.  So imagine your mother is dead-“

“Excuse me?!”

“Aw, did I hit a nerve, Princess?  Sorry, but you don’t stand a chance of understanding me or Adora if you can’t even stomach imagining that you have no parents-“

“I have lost a parent-“

“That’s not what I said.  At least you know who they are.  At least you got to know one of them and still have her.  Imagine you didn’t. Imagine you had no idea where you came from.  Imagine Bow didn’t either. Imagine the people that raised you hate you and they make every effort to make sure you know it every second of every day and that the only person in the entire world who gives a shit that you exist is Bow.”

“Look, I know what you’re doing.  I already know what Shadow Weaver did to you and Adora-“

“No, that’s where you’re wrong, Princess.  You don’t know the half of what happened to either of us.  You’ll never understand-“

“I never said I’d completely understand-“

“And you still have the nerve to ask why she does what she does?  You ever noticed how she eats so fast whenever there’s food in front of her?  You never wondered why?”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t know-“

“That’s the problem.  You weren’t there to eat the same tiny bit of rations every day.  You weren’t there the days we didn’t eat at all because Shadow Weaver didn’t like something I did and I didn’t deserve to eat and neither did Adora for not being able to control me.  Ever wondered why she never relaxes? You weren’t there to have weird little mind games played on you from the time you were yea high,” she gestures down at her calf. “You weren’t there to have your own life or your teammates’ lives held over your head.  You weren’t there to have the closest thing you have to a mother fawn over your best friend at every turn and look at you like an incapable nuisance who doesn’t respect you. So don’t play games with me. Don’t try and convince me that it’s just going to be that easy to switch sides.  The _Horde_ can’t even decide if it wants me. No princess alliance is going to.”

The flurry of admissions from Catra about her and Adora’s young lives sucks the air out of the space between them.  Glimmer feels as if she’s been hit and can’t speak immediately.

“But Adora wants you.  She loves you.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Catra exclaims, nearly yelling now.  “Don’t act like Adora didn’t defect because she’s been obsessed with being right from the time she could talk. Don’t kid yourself.  Adora doesn’t care about either of us. Adora cares about being liked and being self-righteous and she’ll go wherever she thinks she can do that.”

Catra growls and turns to keep walking, scraping the back of her hand across her cheek, clearly embarrassed at her own outburst.

“I don’t know as much about Adora’s past as you do. And I wasn’t there for any of that.  That’s true,” Glimmer murmurs in the echoing silence between them. “But I do know about her as she is now.  I know that people can change. And even if that’s the Adora you knew, that’s not the Adora I know now.”

“People don’t change,” she volleys back.

“Yes, they do.  I did. I didn’t trust Adora when we first met.  If you had told me I’d fall in love with a Horde soldier, hell, even if you told me a Horde soldier was even capable of joining the Rebellion, I wouldn’t have believed you.  Both happened. Adora loves you. She’s told me so herself. She worries about you every day. Whether you want to believe me or not, it’s true.”

Catra doesn’t respond and doesn’t turn around.  Glimmer suspects she’s trying to hide her face from her.

“I’m sorry about what happened to you.  Both of you. It wasn’t fair and you didn’t deserve that.”

Catra doesn't say another word for hours. Not until they reach what appears to be a dead end.

“Uh,” Glimmer ventures, but she isn’t sure what to say, nervous to disturb a tense silence.

“Yeah, looks like we’re going to have to find another way out,” Catra says, matter-of-fact as if they haven’t been sharing an uncomfortable silence all day.

Glimmer groans.

“So we-”

“Have to go all the way back to that fork, yeah.”

“Cool.  Looks like we’re sleeping in here tonight,” Glimmer sighs.

“Yup.  You going to survive, Princess?” she taunts.

“Do you know what Commander means? This isn’t my first night in the elements.”

“Sure. We might as well stop here.  We don’t know what’s down the other path and at least we know there’s nothing eventful about this one.”

“Yeah that and if I have to walk another step I might go crazy.  Doing that and keeping my powers going all day is seriously draining. Wait!” Glimmer claps a hand to her forehead.  “I forgot to let my mom know we got here. She’s my gonna kill me for not reporting back to her!”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s happening.  And I thought your mom was all soft or whatever,”  Catra sighs, settling on the ground. Glimmer flops down next to her.

“I wish.  She doesn’t like anything I do, she never lets me do anything without micromanaging it.  She’s going to think I disappeared.”

“You did disappear,” she reminds her.

“Yeah, I know, but it’s just more reason for her to think I can’t do anything right.”

“Join the club.”

“Did Shadow Weaver do that?”

“Yeah.  I mean, she’s not really a problem anymore, but she would’ve completely freaked out on me if she was still around.  She would’ve done that anyway probably, but it would’ve been an extra huge freak-out.”

“I can’t do anything right as far as my mom is concerned,” Glimmer sighs, reclining against the rock behind her.  She isn’t sure why she’s talking to her. Maybe it’s to soothe how clearly upset she was earlier. Maybe it’s just to fill the cavernous silence in the space between them.    

“You should do what I do and just stop trying and keep going once she’s out of the picture.”

“Well, I can’t really take my mom out of the picture.  But yeah, sometimes I’d like to just stop trying. It’s less tiring.”

“Why don’t you, then?”

“Because it’s important.  If I don’t do it, no one will.  I can’t stop, not when there are so many people at stake,” she shakes her head.

“I don’t know, seems like a lot of pressure.”

“Yeah, but what choice do I have when there are lives on the line?”

Catra shrugs and Glimmer wants to leave it be.  But the dismissive way she stays silent grates and Glimmer starts to lose her patience.

“So what would you do in my place? Stop trying? Even with lives on the line?  Do you even _have_ lives on the line working for the Horde?”

“Yeah, how about mine?” she rolls her eyes, unperturbed.

“So you’re telling me you care about your life above everyone else's?!”

“Listen, Sparkle- ”

“You know that's not my name!”

“Not all of us had a cute upbringing where we got to decide what we wanted to be when we grew up and had our mommies tuck us into bed. I didn't get to decide not to be a soldier. Shadow Weaver told me personally that she'd kill me if Adora wasn't around to vouch for me. The only reason you think I can leave is because Adora can. But would you have accepted Adora if she wasn't a pretty magic sword lady?”

“Yes-”

Catra cackles cynically.

“Yeah, you captured her on sight and still kept her captive after that until it came time for her to save your neck. And you still think I'm going to believe that?”

“I still think you're choosing to save your own life over others.”

“If I hadn't chosen to save my own life over others I would've been dead a long time ago.”

Glimmer lets the weight of the admission press in the space around them, heavy.  

“Did she really threaten to kill you?” she whispers, afraid of the answer.

“Yes! Do you think I'm just being dramatic? Why is it so important to you that I join the Rebellion, anyway?”

“Because Adora loves you.”

“You sure it's not because you like me?” she grins, wide and mocking.

“I kinda hate you to be honest.”

“Sure you do. You've just spent an entire day talking to me and still are.”

“Fine, I won't talk to you then.”

“Aw, but I want to know more about _you,”_ she leans in a little, voice low and smooth, and Glimmer scoots away a little with a scowl. “How do you _feel_ about the fact that Adora loves me still?”

“Shut up!”

“What? You can ask me every uncomfortable thing you want but want to cry foul when I do it to you?”

“I was just trying to-”

“To what?”

“I don’t know, be polite? Try to get to know you?”

“No, you weren’t.  If you were trying to get to know me you’d ask me about my hobbies or something stupid, not ask me if Shadow Weaver meant it when she threatened me.”

“I was just trying to help!”

“Really? Does it help when I remind you Adora still loves me?  Does it help to keep asking you what your mom’s problem is with you? Does it help to remind you that-”

“Stop,” Glimmer barks, swiftly losing her temper, but Catra keeps going.

“You lost a member of your alliance to us? Does it help for me to ask you how it made you _feel_  when your daddy died?”

It happens so fast Glimmer doesn't have time to think about stopping. She can barely think, the anger and grief a blinding ache.  She dredges up as much power as she can in the palm of her hand and hurls it into Catra’s face. She recoils, staggering back and Glimmer scrambles to her feet.  She won’t have much time. Catra is quick on her feet. Sure enough, she rights herself almost instantly, still blinking after the sudden flash, and wastes no time lunging back at her.  She misses the first time as Glimmer dodges. She must still be disoriented from the first flash of light, but Glimmer isn’t as lucky the second time as Catra comes behind her and loops her arm around Glimmer’s neck.  She holds it there, vicelike, the points of her claws digging in just enough to sting.

“Let go of me!” Glimmer growls.

“Or what, Princess?” she murmurs into her ear and Glimmer struggles futilely.

Glimmer can’t teleport.  She already wasted what little she had left on that attack.  But Catra is slight and lanky and all it takes is one stamp of her heavy boot on Catra’s bare foot to loosen her grip. She hisses and Glimmer easily flips her and she lands with a thud on the cave floor.  Catra growls, rolls deftly, and pounces on her again. This time she’s too quick and Glimmer falls in a heap on the ground and in the stunned instant after impact, Catra rakes her claws across each side of Glimmer’s face, one after another,  in swift, red-hot lines. Glimmer grits her teeth against the sting and grasps Catra’s small wrists, trying to hold her back. She’s much stronger than she looks. She easily dislodges Glimmer’s grip by digging into her wrists and the sting there startles Glimmer enough for her to wrest free and rake her claws across her neck and down her arms this time.  Glimmer knows she’s losing this fight and she isn’t sure how far Catra will go to finish it. Glimmer kicks wildly and finally lands a heavy blow to Catra’s stomach that makes her stagger back. Glimmer turns to run and makes it a few paces before there’s the rumbling crack of rock falling and a strangled yelp. Glimmer stops in her tracks and turns.

Catra must have hit the cave wall when she fell.  The impact shook loose rock. It’s not the huge pile of rubble that separated them from Adora and Scorpia, but it’s enough.  Catra lies in a heap on the ground, a pile of rubble pinning her left leg to the ground. She struggles to free herself, clawing frantically at the rubble, but it doesn’t budge.  Her claws scrape against rock, rough and grating and she pants, exhausted already.

Glimmer could run and leave her here.  She could leave her and never have to wonder what she’ll do next to endanger Etheria.  She could run and never have to see that pained look in Adora’s eyes as she watches her across a battlefield.  She could run and never have to worry about whether Adora might still love Catra more than she’ll ever love Glimmer.  So many problems would disappear with her.

But as much as she hates Catra, as much as she’d love to run and never look back, she knows she’ll die if she leaves her here.  Catra will die alone here with no one to come looking for her, struggling futilely against the weight of the veritable boulders pressing down on her. Glimmer wants to be able to leave her here.  She wants to be able to trade an eye for an eye. She’d love to leave Catra here because that’s what the Horde would do to her. But much as the Horde has blood on its hands, Glimmer can’t bring herself to stain her own hands with any.    She grits her teeth, wondering if she’s stupid to do it, and turns to run back to her.

“Get away from me!” Catra shrieks, pupils reduced to slits and teeth bared when she sees Glimmer.  She swipes wildly at her ankles, scoring deep lines in the leather of Glimmer’s boots. Thankfully it doesn’t reach her ankles.

“Stop! Stop clawing me! I’m trying to help you!” She tells her as she tosses small rocks behind her, frantic.

“I don’t want your help!”

“All the more reason for me to do it, then!” Glimmer shouts.

“Just go!” she snarls, making weak attempts to shove Glimmer, but they’re a shadow of her usual strength.  She looks ashen and a thin film of sweat shines on her forehead. “Leave me here, I know it’s what you want to do anyway!”

“No I don’t,” she shoves the rock that’s pinning her down and Catra winces.  “Sorry!”

“No, you’re not!”

“I’m not leaving you here.”

“Why not? It’s not like we like each other.  I’d rather you leave me here, I don’t want your pity and I don’t want you to help me because you feel obligated to. I’d rather you leave me here,” she repeats.

“I’m not helping out of obligation and I _don’t_ pity you.”

“Then why bother? Ow!”

“Because I wouldn’t leave _anyone_ here like that!” Glimmer snarls and stamps her foot and Catra stops for a moment.  She scowls steadily at her, ears flat against her head.

“But I want you to,” she tells her, but the way her eyes are still wide and panicked says otherwise.

“I don’t care what you want.  This isn’t about you or what you want.  I’m helping you because I will _never_ just sit here and do nothing,” Glimmer answers, quiet and severe.  It’s not entirely true. Glimmer does want to help her, but this is what will convince Catra to stop fighting her.  Catra slumps back and Glimmer finally hefts the thing off of her foot. She inhales in a sharp gasp. Catra’s foot is clearly and sickeningly broken.  It twists in angles it shouldn’t and her leg trembles from the shock.

“It’s broken,” Glimmer tells her grimly.

“No shit,” she quips through gritted teeth.

“At least the bone didn’t break the skin, so that’s good.  But you won’t be walking far on this.”

Catra doesn’t respond.  She starts to shake, nearly vibrating.  She’s trying valiantly to get up, but the tremors wracking her body won’t let her.

“Stop, lie back down.  You should stay still.”

“I’m fine.”

“No you’re not, you need to lie down. Just let me help you,” Glimmer groans.

“No.”

“Do you want to die down here?”

“Not with you.”

“Then lie down and shut up.”

Either Glimmer’s insistence or the trauma of her injury finally convinces Catra to lie down.  She slumps back on the cave floor, defeated. Glimmer hesitantly touches her forehead.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to see if you feel cold.  And you do, by the way,” she answers, turning to take off her cape.  She drapes it across her and Catra grimaces.

“I don’t want it.”

“Too bad, you need to warm up.  Take some deep breaths.”

Catra takes shaky breaths as Glimmer sits next to her.

“Here, put your foot up on my shoulder.”

“Why the hell would I do that?”

“Because you need to elevate it,” Glimmer picks up her leg and rests her ankle on her shoulder without any intent to entertain Catra’s complaints.

“If that didn’t feel better, I’d kill you, but it does, so,” she sighs, still trembling.  “I don’t owe you anything for this.”

“I didn’t say you did,” Glimmer answers. “Why are you so stubborn about letting someone help you?”

“Because altruism is bullshit.  People always want something for what they do for you whether it’s favours, information, praise.  There’s no such thing as someone who genuinely wants to help.”

“You don’t think that might be because the only people you’ve ever dealt are either psychopaths or brainwashed kids?”

Catra shrugs.

“Probably, but can you blame me for not trusting my enemy’s help?”

“You don’t have to be our enemy you know.”

“No, of course not, I just have to leave the only home I’ve ever known and a career I’ve been working towards my entire life that I finally have a shot at because I’m not in Adora’s perfect little shadow.  Sounds great.”

Glimmer sighs and decides to abandon trying to convince Catra that she doesn’t have ulterior motives towards her or that she could join the Rebellion if she wanted.

“Are you feeling warmer?”

“Yeah,” she nods.  “This still hurts like a bitch though.”

“Yeah. I broke my arm as a kid.  Definitely not an experience I’d repeat.”

“How’d you do that?”

“Teleporting accident.  I wasn’t supposed to be teleporting unsupervised because I was still learning.  My mom told me not to and I did it pretty much as soon as she was out of the room, went too high, fell right on it.”

Catra chuckles weakly.

“Sounds like you were a lot more fun as a kid.”

“Hey, I’m still fun and you’d know that if you’d stop trying to fight me.”

“Woah, you started that fight.”

“You brought up my dad, I was provoked.”

“Pretty easily, yeah,” she grins wickedly.  

“I wouldn’t start talking like that.  I already won once and I’d definitely win again, considering,” she nods at her foot and Catra rolls her eyes.

“Whatever.”

The conversation lulls and the adrenaline of the moment starts to taper.  Glimmer becomes increasingly aware of the sting and tightness where Catra clawed her.  She touches one arm.

“You’re not going to listen to me, so I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but you should lick it. It helps.”

“First of all, that’s gross.  Second, I can’t even reach it.”

“I can for you if you want-“ she grins, teeth bared.

“I’d rather die.”

Catra cackles again.

“Well, you may get your wish, Princess.  We’re stuck together in a cave, remember?”

“Don’t remind me.  You should try to sleep.  Give your foot a little time to rest.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Catra sighs and the fatigue on her face looks different this time.  Glimmer feels as if she’s seeing something hidden and strange but more tangible, an exhaustion she can’t hide any longer that seems so much more real and more human.   How tiring it seems, her constant quips and grinning and remarks, this confidence and nonchalance that seems so easy for her. She’s asleep so soon after, slumped onto the cold rock.  Glimmer props herself against the back of the cave wall, arm looped around Catra’s leg to hold it steady.

She sits with Catra, watching for new threats even though the ringing silence and dark stretches on and on, a vast nothingness that makes her feel smaller with every passing moment.  She watches Catra a little bit too. She’s so used to her anger, her derisive laughter, the gnashing of her teeth and the sting of her claws. But this peaceful look is so out of place for Glimmer and so vulnerable in a way that’s hard to look away from.  She looks almost sweet, her brows relaxed and the snarled lines in her face smooth, the gentle rise and fall of her chest rhythmic and soft. She remembers that Adora has watched her sleep like this for their entire lives and it’s now that she can almost see the gentleness of her that Adora still remembers, even if it’s just for a moment.

After a few hours, Catra stirs, murmuring under her breath and Glimmer can’t make out what she’s saying. She does this for a while in a fitful sleep, mumbling and shifting.  Her dreaming seems to turn nightmarish as she tosses more frantically and starts to sweat, her whimpering more hysterical. Glimmer shakes her a little but she doesn’t wake.

“Catra?  Catra-“

She shakes her head wildly and Glimmer tries harder.  She starts to speak more clearly.

“No-” she moans, still shaking her head.  This is even stranger and infinitely more horrifying than the gentle sleep Glimmer has been watching.  The unmitigated terror makes Glimmer frantic and desperate to wake her because whatever horror flits behind her eyelids makes the hair on the back of her neck stand on end too.

“Wake up,” Glimmer shakes her still, trying to hold fast to her leg as she thrashes so violently it’s all Glimmer can do to steady her leg.

Just as she wakes she cries out loud and clear.

“Adora!”

The sound rings in the empty space, somewhere between a shout and a sob.  She whips around, trying to get her bearings, the blue and yellow of her eyes a faint glow in the space between them.  Glimmer swears she sees her wipe her eyes with the back of her palm, but she can’t be sure in the dark.

“You had a nightmare,” Glimmer tells her, trying to suppress the pang of sadness she can’t help but feel at how desperately she called out for her.

“Oh,” she answers, deftly swallowing the trembling ache in her voice, clearly and devastatingly practiced.  “Did I say anything?”

There’s the truth and then there’s the kind thing to say.  Glimmer wonders sometimes if she’s too weak. Catra wouldn’t spare her feelings.  But something about how panicked she seemed, how earnestly she asked for Adora and how quickly she masked the horror in her own voice makes it impossible for Glimmer to do it to her.

“No. Why, what would you have said?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she grumbles, settling back down.

She doesn’t sleep for a while.  Glimmer can see the glitter of her eyes, still open in what faint light her eyes can still pick up.  Catra notices her watching her and looks over at her for a moment. She doesn’t say or do anything and neither does Glimmer.  They just look at each other for a moment in the dark with no insults, no tension, no poorly concealed derision or scowls. She just watches her, curled on the ground, chin resting on her crossed arms.  Her tail flicks once and she closes her eyes, face still visible to Glimmer.

Glimmer doesn't remember falling asleep and when she wakes again she isn't sure what time it is. Time distorts here in constant darkness, twists in unrecognizable ways. They could just as well have been in here hours as days. There's no way to know.

Catra groans pitifully. She must be what woke Glimmer up. Glimmer tries to bring some light to her palm to check on Catra’s foot. It flickers and dies after a moment but the short burst of light is enough.  It's swollen, an angry red and sickly purple in turns.

“Yeah, so your foot is...not looking great.”

“Thanks. Did anyone ever tell you you have great bedside manner?”

“Sorry. Do you think you'll be able to keep moving today?”

“Not without help, so if you want me to move from here, it's on you, Princess. You could've left me and you decided to go all superhero on me so now you're stuck with me.”

“I already said I'd help you, I was trying to be polite, but if you're going to be rude I'll stop,” she answers, unceremoniously hooking Catra's arm around her shoulders and hoisting her up in one fluid motion. Catra grits her teeth and growls under her breath.

“You could've warned me! This hurts, you know.”

“I didn't touch your foot and it didn't hit the ground either.”

“Yeah, but all the blood is rushing to it and..agh,” Catra winces again.

“Sorry. We might as well get moving though now that you're up.”

They take a tentative step together and Catra hisses through her teeth.

“Do you think you can do it?”

“Well I have to or there's a good chance we're going to waste away down here, so let's just do it-” she spits through gritted teeth.

They make slow and agonizing progress. Catra can barely put any pressure on her foot and anytime she tries she grips Glimmer’s shoulder, vice-like, shakily struggling through it.  

They inch their way back the way they came, Glimmer lighting their way in short-lived bursts when she can.  The light flickers more and more, dimmer each time she tries to call it to her palm. Catra directs her when she can’t call the light to her palm anymore and she can’t see in the blinding dark.  

“You’re about to run us into a wall.”

“This is the way we came from and to the left is the path we didn’t take.”

“Wall.”

They limp along like this, tugging one another this way and that.  They settle into something of a rhythm. It’s almost comforting, this slow and plodding movement and Catra’s monotone directions, simple and clear.

Glimmer isn’t sure how long they aimlessly walk like this.  They stop to rest and sleep two or three times. Has it been three days? Four? A week?  She asks Catra once.

“How long do you think we’ve been in here?”

“How should I know?”

“Nevermind,” Glimmer growls, but Catra continues.

“I don’t know.  Time seems weird down here.  Feels like a few days but there’s no way to know.”

They go through the limited amount of rations Glimmer had on her quickly, even though they split them in halves and then quarters after.  They try to conserve the water Catra carried in with her, but even the small sips they take leave it nearly drained.

The fifth time they stop to sleep is when a finality to the situation starts to creep up the back of Glimmer’s neck and the possibility that they might never find them starts to seem clearer by the hour.  She trembles a little. Her magic has long since left. Catra must feel it too because she abandons her normal standoffishness in favor of curling against Glimmer’s side. Glimmer would normally recoil, but after days stranded in the dark nothingness, the push to cling to someone, anyone, is animal and unshakeable, as if the warmth of her and the beat of her pulse is the only thing keeping Glimmer’s heart beating too.

“I swear if I die here with Glitter the moon princess I’ll come back to life to die again,” she groans, head resting on top of Glimmer’s.

“Really? I drag your furry butt around all day, and that’s what I get?”

“You’re welcome for dragging you around too because your powers don’t even work and you can't see.”

“They work, they just need to recharge.”

“Sure, whatever, Shimmer.”

“I’d punch you, but I’m too tired.”

“Good, feeling’s mutual.  You know this would be a good time for Adora to go all magic sword lady and come rescue us.  Usually, that would be annoying and self-righteous but I’d honestly settle for self-righteous right about now.”

“Yeah, I could really use She-Ra right about now.”

Catra grunts, clearly unhappy with Glimmer calling her anything other than Adora.

“That’s what she is, you know.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“She can’t help it.  You don’t choose to be She-Ra.”

“It’d be nicer if she didn’t love it so much.”

“She actually doesn’t.  It’s a lot of pressure, you know.”

“Whatever.  I’m not calling her that.”

“She’s always been She-Ra, even when you knew her.  She hasn’t actually changed even if you think so.”

“Yeah, that’s the problem.”

Glimmer sighs and doesn’t press it.  It won’t do to keep trying to convince her that Adora never meant her harm. Not now when they’re staring down a void they may never escape. Not now when they may never see Adora again.

That thought hits Glimmer with a sudden and brutal force that she’s powerless to fight and the next thing she knows, tears are pricking at the corners of her eyes.  She sniffs and Catra shifts.

“Are you crying?”

Glimmer would normally deny it, but there’s no use pretending anymore.

“Yeah.”

Catra shrugs.

“Can’t really blame you.  What about? Besides the obvious I guess.”

“I just thought that I might not see her again and-”

Catra doesn’t answer immediately.  Glimmer feels her tail swish back and forth, agitated.

“Yeah, that pretty much sucks.  If it helps, I wanted to see her again too,” she murmurs, grudging and quiet and small.

That sends a fresh wave of tears down Glimmer’s cheeks.

“Okay, so that didn’t help.  Pull yourself together, Glimmer.  We’re not dead yet. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about Adora from knowing her waaay longer than you have,” Catra stretches, deliberately putting the brunt of her weight on Glimmer and her tears start to slow in annoyance. “It’s that Adora is way more stubborn and has a way bigger hero complex than you’re giving her credit for.”

“You really think she’ll find us?”

“I don’t know.  But if anyone is going to do it, it’s definitely her,” Catra shrugs. “A dramatic rescue just in the nick of time is definitely her style. I wouldn’t even put it past her to leave us down here a little longer just to add some flair to it.”

“She would never do that.”

Catra just settles back against Glimmer and doesn’t say anything.  Glimmer isn’t sure how to feel about the fact that she’s no longer crying and that it was Catra that stopped her tears.  

“You make a good force captain,” Glimmer murmurs, allowing the hint of respect to color her words.  Catra cackles.

“I know that I don’t need your approval to know I’m good at my job, Princess.”

“Just shut up and take the compliment,” she rolls her eyes and Catra laughs in a way that seems less vindictive and more genuine.  They drift to sleep propped against each other, the stone wall unyielding and cold behind them.

“Glimmer?  Glimmer?!”

Glimmer groans, in that middle space between sleep and waking.  She doesn’t want to wake up. Her limbs feel heavy and difficult to move, her mouth is dry and her head pounds. Glimmer opens her eyes, squinting, unable to stay asleep even though she wants to.  She-Ra hovers over her, worried blue eyes swimming as Glimmer blinks and tries to focus. She looks next to Glimmer.

“Catra?”

There’s a jostling movement next to her as Catra starts to wake too.  Catra opens her eyes and laughs weakly, looking up at She-Ra’s form, bright in the dark..

“Hey, Adora.”

Adora whimpers and reaches forward, putting her arms around her for a moment.  She holds Catra for a moment and then lets her go, running her fingers through her hair.

“Thank god, I was afraid you two had split up.  You look terrible.”

“Thanks, you too.”

“Adora?” Glimmer croaks as her form starts to clear, afraid she might be dreaming.

“Glimmer,” she sighs, moving away from Catra and brushing a warm palm gently across her cheek.   She moves to kiss her and Glimmer wants to keep her eyes open to watch Catra’s expression, but she’s too tired and the kiss too welcome.  Glimmer loops her arms around her neck and doesn’t let go. She-Ra lifts her into her arms easily and she kneels down to let Catra climb on too.  Catra turns her nose up.

“I don’t need you to save me,” she growls.

“Catra,” Adora whines, a fresh wave of tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.  “Please.”

“Don’t act like you care-”

Adora waits, still kneeling, looking helplessly at Catra and silently pleading.

“Oh shut the hell up and grab on, you’re being dramatic,” Glimmer barks.  “I didn’t drag you around for days to leave you here. If you don’t come willingly, you’ll come captive, got it?”

“Glimmer, don’t-” Adora puts a hand on her arm, but Catra scowls deeply and loops her arms around Adora’s neck all the same, clinging to her back with her legs crossed around her waist in a way that seems comfortable, like she’s done it before more than once.  Adora sighs, relieved.

“How did you two get so far?”

“Few days of walking didn’t hurt,” Catra murmurs into her hair, eyes half-closed and blinking lazily.  Her ears seem relaxed for once as she settles into the crook of Adora’s neck, nestled in her hair.

“Why didn’t you just stay there?”

“We didn’t know if it was stable and we didn’t know if you’d be able to get through,” Glimmer explains, settling into Adora’s arms, ear over her heart. The tips of Catra’s hair, snaked over Adora’s shoulder, tickle her cheek.

“It did take us a long time.  But there isn’t another way out of here.”

“How do you know?” Catra teases, but it’s weak.

“We looked.  We had to call reinforcements.”

“Fantastic, so a Rebellion army is waiting for me.  Thanks for telling me this was a trap,” Catra scowls.

“We called a temporary truce, Catra,” Adora admonishes.  “The Horde didn’t send anything, by the way. You can thank the princess alliance for saving you.”

“No thanks.  Scorpia still over there?”

“Yes, she’s been there the whole time,” Adora answers, restrained.  “Like the entire time.”

Catra cackles wickedly.

“My condolences.”

Adora giggles reluctantly.  

“Yeah, she’s not the-”

“Most helpful or useful?” Catra supplies.

Adora rolls her eyes.  
  
“Yeah, okay, she’s not really any of those things but she’s also really worried about you and she’s been a nervous wreck, so be nice to her.  I know that’s hard for you, but she’s the only one from the Horde who bothered to stick around to see if you were going to be okay.”

Catra grunts and nuzzles deeper into She-Ra’s hair.

“As glad as I am that I found you two together, I feel like there’s a story behind the fact that you two didn’t kill each other,” Adora continues after a moment.

“Your little Princess tried to kill me,” Catra answers.  “She broke my foot.”

“Yeah, after you threw my father’s death in my face,” Glimmer bites back.

“Not my fault you’re so sensitive.  For the record, you threw the first punch.”

“It wasn’t a punch, it was magic, but I’d be happy to show you a punch if you want one.”

“Bring it on, Glitter-”

Adora stops dead and pulls them apart, holding each of them easily by the collar, one in each fist, arms-width apart.

“Nope! We’re not doing this right now. No fighting on the She-Ra, got it? You two can fight all you want later, but not on me, okay?”

“Sorry,” Glimmer mutters.

Catra just pouts, body automatically curled in midair in a way that looks impossibly kittenish.  Adora puts her back on her back and Catra grabs on again. She folds Glimmer back in her arms after and keeps moving.

“Did you really break her foot?” Adora mutters, eyebrows knitted.

“Yes!” Catra answers, peeved.  “Why does everyone think I make this stuff up?”

“Because you sort of lie a lot, it gets hard to tell,” Adora answers and Catra nods and shrugs, mollified.

“To be fair, I kind of did break her foot.  It was an accident!” Glimmer explains frantically as Adora’s eyes widen, mildly horrified.  “We were fighting and she was clawing me, I kicked her so hard she hit the cave wall because I was maybe a little afraid she was going to kill me, there were falling rocks.  That’s pretty much it. Technically the rock broke her foot-”

Adora shakes her head.

“I shouldn’t have asked, forget it.”

“We did cooperate after that, though.  I dragged her around because she couldn’t walk on her foot.”

“And I helped your girlfriend see because she has to charge her sparkle powers and would’ve been stumbling around this place blind otherwise.”

Adora flushes brilliantly at the word ‘girlfriend’ and Glimmer shoots Catra a smug smile.   Catra scowls darkly over She-Ra’s shoulder at her.

“Well, I’m glad you two helped each other out. Sort of. Even if it was a necessity because you also tried to kill each other first, but-”

“Oh yeah, Twinkle and I are great friends now,” she grins tauntingly.

“No, we’re not.”

“Catra, you don’t even know her name, stop baiting her.”

“Oh she knows my name, she’s just-”

“Mean?” Catra supplies.

“I was going to say challenging,” Glimmer answers.

“An acquired taste,” Adora mutters.

“You’d know,” Catra grins into Adora’s ear before shooting a satisfied smirk and quirked eyebrow Glimmer’s way.  Glimmer clenches her fists and jaw, willing herself not to swing and Adora goes a brilliant fuschia, sputtering.

Catra sighs, still chortling.

“I’m almost going to miss you two.  You’re so much fun to play around with, it’s just too easy to get a rise out of you.”

Glimmer knows it’s supposed to be a joke, but after days with her, she’s learning to look past Catra’s words.  There are other messages that defy them that she’s starting to understand, like the way Catra rests her head in the crook of Adora’s neck in a way that’s peaceful and practiced.  Like the faintest rumble of a purr that makes Adora give a smile that isn’t familiar to Glimmer but looks familiar to Catra as they look at one another for a moment. Glimmer has to admit that the sound is soothing and it makes her close her eyes for a moment.  Then there’s the way Catra closes her eyes and falls asleep there as Adora walks.

“Adora?” Glimmer murmurs to Adora once she’s sure Catra is asleep.

Adora looks at her, questioning, blue eyes wide and Glimmer has to take a moment to look into them.  There were moments she wasn’t sure she’d see them again.

“Yeah?” Adora prompts and Glimmer remembers herself.  She looks at Catra.

“I can’t really believe I’m saying this, but,” she sighs.  “I kinda get it.”

Adora gives her a grateful, if not melancholy, smile.

“You’re sure it’s not just because she’s asleep?” she quirks an eyebrow.  “She’s deceptively cute when she’s asleep.”

Glimmer covers her mouth with her hand so her laugh doesn’t wake Catra.

“Yeah, okay, maybe that is part of it.  But not all of it. There’s something in there. It’s really, _really_ far down in there but-”

“Yeah,” Adora swallows hard.  “I’m glad someone else sees it.  Makes me feel less crazy,” she laughs, but the laugh is halting as Adora keeps trying to swallow the ache in her voice.

“You’re not crazy,” Glimmer shakes her head.

“I just hate feeling so helpless,” Adora whispers.  “I wish there was something I could do to make her see and-”

Glimmer shakes her head.

“You’ve done everything you could. You did a lot more than anyone else, that’s for sure.  This is one of those things she’s going to have to figure out herself. Not that it sucks any less.”

“Sucks more if you ask me,” Adora sniffles, still trying to smile through it.

“A lot more,” Glimmer nods, missing for a moment the days before this entire thing happened.  The days when she didn’t need to know anything about Catra and didn’t want to. The complexity of it now is daunting and grueling work.

When they reach the pile of rubble that separated them, there’s a gaping hole in it.  The rock is strewn everywhere.

“It’s actually really lucky you two didn’t stick around here,” Adora tells her.  “We tried to control the way everything fell, but there was only so much we could do.  We were worried for a few hours we had hit you trying to get through to you.”

“How many days were we gone?” Glimmer asks.

“Almost a week,” Adora answers gravely.  “I was starting to wonder if I was going to lose you two.”

“We wondered too,” Glimmer answers.  “I started to freak out at the end of it.  It was actually Catra that pulled me together.”

Adora just smiles sadly at Catra as she naps on her shoulder.

There are matching shouts from Bow and Scorpia when Adora clambers through to the other side.  Catra stirs but doesn’t move from her perch on Adora’s shoulder.

“Glimmer!” Bow yells for a second time, throwing his arms around all three of them, either unaware or uncaring that Catra is among them.  He looks grey and drawn and Glimmer can see that he’s bitten his nails to the quick like he does when he’s nervous. “Are you okay?! Your powers ran out, didn’t they? They were already low, weren’t they?”

“Yeah, they did run out, but I’m fine,” she smiles, so deeply glad to see him and the others and suddenly so exhausted now that she’s able to relax.  

“We were so worried,” Perfuma whimpers, hand draped delicately over her mouth.

“We’re glad you’re safe and you didn’t die and also really glad to be getting out of this cave we’ve all been in for, like, almost a week,” Mermista drones, examining her nails.

“Coming through!” Scorpia’s voice sounds as she barrels through the little crowd surrounding Adora.  Catra’s ears go flat and she sinks her claws into Adora’s shoulder.

“Ow, Catra,” Adora groans as Catra tries to hold on, but Scorpia hooks her claws under Catra’s arms and easily dislodges her.  There are ragged holes in the fabric of She-Ra’s cape.

“What happened? Are you okay? Did they hurt you? What’s wrong with your foot?” she asks, rapid-fire, as Catra dangles in midair, struggling.

“Ow! My foot’s broken, don’t touch it! Put me down!”

“Uh-uh, no-can-do,” Scorpia shakes her head, resolute.  “You’re not walking on that,” she nods at her foot, slings Catra over her shoulder, and starts to walk.  

The others chat excitedly, giddy and jittery with relief.  They can even hear Scorpia chatting incessantly and happily to Catra, quieter as she disappears down a dim passage.  Only Adora and Glimmer are silent as they watch Catra’s face grow smaller and smaller in the distance. Catra watches them too with that same expression she gave Glimmer that night, nearly blank but with an honesty that’s just off of vulnerable.  They watch each other until they can’t see one another any longer.

“So, you guys ready to go home?” Bow grins at them, seemingly unaware they’ve been silently watching their enemy disappear.

Adora looks at Glimmer and they shrug at one another.   They don’t answer. Bow takes their hesitant smiles for joy and they follow him, everyone around them smiling and laughing and squinting in the sun as their eyes adjust after days of darkness.

When she gets home, Glimmer is suitably threatened with a lengthy lecture from her mother, but she’s at least given the rest of the day and night to recharge and recuperate.  Adora carries her up and places her gently on the stone to recharge. She’s asleep almost as soon as she touches it. When Glimmer wakes, Adora, no longer She-Ra, is still there.  She sits, leaning against the stone where Glimmer rests, her back to her. She sits with her knees drawn up to her chin, arms looped around her shins.

“Hey.”

Adora starts and turns to look at her.  She smiles quietly.

“Hey.”

“Are you okay?”

Adora shrugs.   
  
“When am I ever okay?”

Glimmer nods and climbs down to sit next to her.  

“Sorry.  I know that was really scary for you,” Glimmer murmurs and Adora tips her head to rest on Glimmer’s shoulder.

“It was scary for you two, too.”

“Yeah.”

Adora starts to sniffle and Glimmer looks at her, questioning.

“Good cry or bad cry?” she asks.

“A little of both, but mostly good,” Adora whispers.

Glimmer nods and waits to see if Adora wants to talk to her or would rather let the silence settle over them.  

“It’s just really nice not to be alone and to have someone who gets it,” she sighs.  Glimmer nods and they don’t speak again. Instead, they sit and watch the stars together, little pinpricks of light in a moonless dark.


End file.
